New York Station Kicks Off Kids Summer Exercise Program

"Sal Con Los Solecitos," a Univision 41 (WXTV) campaign to get young children off their seats and out of the house this summer kicked off Memorial Day weekend with a public appearance by sportscaster Salvador (Sal) Cruz and Los Solecitos, the yellow-costumed children's music quartet, at the Unisphere in Queens on Friday.

"Sal Con Los Solecitos" is Spanish both for "Go out with the Solecitos" and "Sal with the Solecitos." Sal Cruz, sportscaster for weekend news programs on Univision 41, is host of the series of weekly Friday public get-togethers with Los Solecitos, which will run through the Labor Day weekend.

Los Solecitos, developed by Univision 41 as animated characters based on the quarter, have been a staple for three years. Each morning, animated Solecitos wake up children in a station break. Each evening, Los Solecitos tell children that it is time to go to bed with a musical message. Throughout the day Los Solecitos encourage kids to exercise with animated "exercise moments" set to music.

The station says it realized the popularity of Los Solecitos when it was flooded with calls complaining that the program had been pre-empted due to special programming. Parents said their young children would not go to bed without the musical sendoff, says Univision41.

Soon after their debut on WXTV, the station began to get requests from the public for appearances by the yellow-costumed quartet. As many as 2,000 children have shown up for appearances by Los Solecitos on behalf of WXTV.

For decades, English-speaking New York TV viewers have been treated to the phrase, "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?" Now, Spanish-speaking viewers have their own TV tradition.